showy appointment, or charmed by the distance that lends enchantment to a third rate embassy, give up their own future, and perhaps a future still more important. The obvious duty of those who have at heart peace and civilization properly understood, is not to film the sores of the commonwealth, but to cut deeply and cautiously; not to compromise their principles, but not to exaggerate them; not to let their ambition overleap itself, but still less to qualify and dwarf it; above all things, when reasonably conscious of worth, and qualified by services to resent subaltern advancement as more odious than exclusion, and condescending patronage as the most intolerable variety of insolence-to have faith in the triumph of right, but not to set faith above works; and whatever they may win by concession, never to look upon any thing as quite secure that they have not been able to enforce. If there were somewhat of this spirit in all parties, we should have better hope for the country. It is hardly to be expected in Ireland, where public opinion never perhaps had a secure footing; but we have at least this consolation in reading Sheil's memoirs, that whatever be the faults of the Irish people, and they are many; whatever be their follies, and they are not to be denied; the country that is susceptible of so perfect an organization, and so uniform an action as were communicated to it by O'Connell and Sheil, will always be capable of great things under great men. But it would be a fatal mistake to trust to the turning up of a great man. Ireland must for years to come, and probably always, be more under the dominion of personal influence than other portions of the Empire, and while a heavy responsibility is thus thrown upon those whoever they may be from whom that influence emanates, and particularly upon her governors; it will be all the more necessary for those who are conscious of worth, to cultivate in themselves the qualities of self-respect and self-reliance, that will enable them to exercise, with dignity and effect, whatever influence they may derive from high position or commanding talents. The man that can save us from our own contempt will be a great deliverer; for people seldom are wrong when they despise themselves, and they cannot earn their own respect without commanding that of others.

ART. IX.-REFORMATORY SCHOOLS FOR IRELAND. Thirty-Third Report of the Inspectors-General on the General State of the Prisons of Ireland, 1854. With Appendices. Presented to Both Houses of Parliament, by Command of Her Majesty. Dublin: Thom and Sons, 1855.

I am of opinion, writes one who was intimately acquainted with his subject, and who to great experience added the earnestness of a Christian and the thoughtfulness of a philosopher, "That most effectually to carry out the objects of imprisonment, and that at the least cost to the country, and with the nearest approach to justice in the apportionment of the cost, it is requisite that the whole power and duty of providing and regulating prisons be placed in the hands of Government."* Of the wisdom and truth of this opinion expressed by Mr: Frederic Hill no more patent proof could be afforded than that furnished by the able, careful, and elaborate Report before us. Wherever good can be traced it springs from Government intervention; where blunderings and errors produce evils, all have their origin in those fruitful sources of mischiefGrand Jury stupidity and the incapacity of local management.

Commencing with that important topic, the number of criminals in all Prisons on certain days in each year, and taking the period of five years, from January 1st, 1850, to January 1st, 1855, we find a gradual but steady decrease. Thus, in January 1850, the numbers were 10,967; whilst in January 1855, they had declined to 5,080, being a decrease, in the latter year, of 675 from the year 1854 and from the year 1850, of 5,887.

The following table will show the abstract, distributed into Provinces, of the Committals during the years 1853 and 1854, with the sexes :-

See "Crime, its Amount, Causes, and Remedies." By Frederic Hill, Barrister-at-Law, Late Inspector of Prisons. London: Murray. 1853, p. 368.

Referring to this table, the Inspectors-General remark :— "The relative proportion of females in the foregoing table, we regret to state, has advanced to 43.4 per cent; that of 1853 having been only 418, an advance, which is the more to be lamented, because, in the majority of our Gaols the department assigned to prisoners of this sex rarely contains one third of the entire accommodation. We have frequently endeavoured to impress upon the local authorities the policy of combating this evil, and we cannot venture to entertain hopes of any amelioration, until fitting provision for carrying out stringent discipline shall be furnished.'

Another error in local management is that glaring one which gives to the prisoner a better description of food than that furnished by the Union Workhouse; and thus young paupers are led to prefer the Gaol to the Poor House as an asylumthe allowance in the Gaols exceeding that of the Poor Houses, by 3 oz. of meal and 2 oz. of bread daily.

With these inducements to select the Gaol as a home, it can hardly surprize one that re-committals should swell the returns. But the evil does not end here. There is little effort made to introduce Separation, Industrial Training, or School Teaching. We first insert the observations of the Inspectors-General :—

Our gaols at present comprise 4,762 single cells, 409 other cells, and 476 rooms furnished with beds; the two latter, as their name implies, being allocated exclusively to associated' imprisonment. Of the single cells, however, there are but 3,323 of the foregoing size, or which contain in the aggregate the same number of cubic feet, the remainder being of lesser capacity. Again, of the 409 double cells, there are 77 capable of subdivision into two or more, whose space would be equivalent to the above measurement. Some additional accommodation, though to an inconsiderable extent, might, doubtless, be further obtained by the conversion of the day

* These figures include the City of Dublin committals—viz :——
To Richmond Bridewell-Males
To Grangegorman-Females

7,287 10,488

} 17,775.

rooms into similar cells, inasmuch as under the separate system such rooms would no longer be required; the congregation of prisoners being especially forbidden, so that the total of cells applicable to the establishment of the separate system would, probably, on the most favorable calculation, fall short of 4,000. In stating the above number of single cells to be applicable to the separate system, we must not be understood to convey that the whole of them, or that even the majority, are now prepared, or about to be prepared for effecting this desirable object, the actual amount of separation' being very limited. In our reports upon the several gaols we have adopted a species of classification for ascertaining the gradations of the system, which we divide into 'complete,' 'partial,' and ' 'approx. imative.'

By complete' we understand the maintenance of it throughout all the criminal classes in its integrity, according to the prescriptions of the 3rd and 4th Vic., chap 44; by 'partial,' the establishment of it under similar regulation in one or more sections; the remainder of the gaol being administered on the plan of 'association,' subject of course to the classification directed by the old Prisons' Act;' and by approximative' we signify that every effort is made to prevent intermixture, and undue communication, such as keeping each prisoner apart not only at night in a single cell, but during meals, and at the periods allocated to punitive and industrial labour, by attaching separate compartments to the tread-wheel, and by constructing stalls in the yards, workshops, laundries, and lavatories.

Complete separation' is in operation, or about to be immediately enforced, in the annexed gaols only, viz. :-those of the counties of Antrim, Armagh, Kilkenny, and Louth.

Partial separation' is carried out in those of Carlow, Down, King's, Roscommon, Sligo, Tyrone, and Westmeath.

'Approximate separation' in those of Clare, Cork, (County and City), Dublin City (at Richmond Bridewell and Grangegorman Penitentiary), Fermanagh, Kildare (at Naas), Limerick County, Londonderry, Tipperary (at Clonmel), Wexford, and Wicklow; so that of the forty-two gaols under our inspection, there are no less than nineteen which are wholly without any modification of this paramount principle of discipline.

Productive employment and instruction in trades are carried on with systematic activity in the gaols of Antrim, Armagh, Clare, Cork (County), Dublin City (at Richmond Bridewell), Kerry, King's, Limerick, Queen's, Tipperary (North Riding, at Nenagh), and Tyrone.

They are also maintained to a lesser extent in the prisons of Carlow, Dublin County, Dublin City (Grangegorman), Cork (City), Down, Fermanagh, Leitrim, Tipperary (South Riding, at Clonmel), Waterford (County), Westmeath, and Wexford.

Lastly, a certain amount of industrial labour, although inconsi derable, is found in the gaols of Cavan, Galway (County), Kildare (at Athy), Londonderry, Longford, Louth, Mayo, Meath, Monaghan, Sligo, Waterford (City), and Wicklow; but in the remainder it can

scarcely be said to exist, at least to such a degree as to produce remunerative results, or to provide prisoners with the means of earning their bread upon their discharge."

In addition, the Inspectors-General add that there is

"A want of care and conscientiousness generally exhibited in the appointment of turnkeys; no regard being paid to the selection of persons who have been trained in handicrafts, or who are at least possessed of an aptitude for teaching the rudiments of such as are easily learned, and are of ready applicability-tailoring and shoemaking, for instance-even if no further proficiency should be acquired than is necessary for mending and repairing. In some counties the High Sheriffs have, with laudable liberality and a sense of public duty, placed the nomination of such officers at the disposal of the Boards of Superintendence; but in the majority the exercise of mere favouritism, without any consideration of fitness, prevails to such an extent as to render it essential to the well-being of prisons that this patronage should be transferred by the legislature to the body charged with and responsible for the due administration."

Pitiable, however, as these facts may be, they are exceeded, in the absurdity of mismanagement, by the details of the provisions for school teaching. It appears that the trained teachers are, in many cases, "not selected solely for educational purposes, but are compelled to fulfil also the duties of discipline officers; and thus little difference exists generally as to intellectual fitness between the two classes of instructors-namely, turnkeys, who are moderately qualified to teach, and such schoolmasters as are ready to undertake, at low salaries, the custody and supervision of prisoners."

Any of our readers who know what the duty of a schoolmaster is; any who can understand that for all purposes of reformation the schoolmaster is only second, if not fully equal, to the Chaplain, will know how to value the system of teaching carried out in these gaols: but to add to the record of the other absurdities of this absurd method of management, the Inspectors-General state, "in the report upon one of our county gaols, for the past year, it is noticed with reprobation, that an assistant matron, in the female department, had been advertised for, to perform the anomalous duties of schoolmistress and superintendent of lunatics."

The section of the Report, referring to this subject of education, recommends, we are rejoiced to find, that for secular instruction all the Prison Schools should be placed under the superintendence of the National Board, and that in addition to